Extreme vetting in all cases: Trump on exclusion of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi from ban list

US President Donald Trump is reportedly all set to suspend the US refugee program for four months and halt visas for travellers from seven Muslim countries; Libya, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

In a recent interview by ABC News, David Muir asked newly-elected President Donald Trump about the countries who were not on the list, namely, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan--asking why the natives from these countries will be allowed.

To which Trump said that some countries will face a close watch and extreme vetting.

“We're going to have extreme vetting in all cases. And I mean extreme. And we're not letting people in if we think there's even a little chance of some problem,” he said in the interview.

Trump further said that some countries will be excluded, however, it will be very hard for the citizens to come in as right now the procedure is very easy.

In an earlier interview on ABC News, Trump denied that it was a ban on Muslims.

"No it's not the Muslim ban, but it's countries that have tremendous terror," Trump said.

"And it's countries that people are going to come in and cause us tremendous problems. Our country has enough problems without allowing people to come in, who in many cases or in some cases, are looking to do tremendous destruction."

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Wednesday aimed at launching the construction of a wall on the Mexican border and restricting illegal immigration, moving aggressively in his first week in office to fulfill major campaign promises.

Declaring illegal immigration "a clear and present danger to the interests of the United States," one order seeks to halt what it called a "recent surge" in illegal border crossings, crackdown on potential acts of terror, reduce the operability of transnational criminal organisations, and speed up the removal of those living illegally in the country.

According to data available, in fiscal year 2016, the US issued 23,732 visas to these seven countries, out of a total 617,752 immigrant visas issued during the same time frame.